LIVE PIGEON SHOOTING.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXI, Issue 81, 2 November 1916, Page 7

LIVE PIGEON SHOOTING.

(To Tuf Editor Stratford Post.) Sir, —Or reading the report of the Stratford Dim (’lub also tlio conditions as drawn up for the Cup, I was reminded of i lie good old days (which 1 believ, will return) when a revolt arose in the minds of true sportsmen against Killing and * wounding our feathered friends, and substituting clay discs to shoot at. One naturally asks who are the rank and file composing these shootists that find more joy in blood-letting targets than inanimate ones P Personally, 1 am unacquainted with them, yet 1 caninot believe that in moments of calm jconsideration, they are men who prefer to kill an unoffending bird in preference to a clay target that can he propelled through the air quite rapidly enough for the best shots. [Doubtless, sir, yon have observed that we, as a people, have periods of ecstasy and depression; a kind of rhythm of rising and falling of our feelings. At one period we are enthusiastically religions, at another we are equally agnostic. Then again we have our loves and hates expressed on account of ill-treatment of children, as shown in our societies for the prevent of cruelty to such. We go further, and through the Society of Prevention of Cruelty of Animals wo keep a fairly sharp eye on drovers and others dealing with cattle. A person exposing birds for sale must beware how he does so, that they may not be hurt in anyway while owners are seeking to make the almighty dollar out of them. Doubtless the law applies to pigeons, except when they are fired upon and wounded and manage to get away to die a miserable death, which we would not allow to one of our barnyard fowls One wonders whether a wave or period of extreme callousness has come over the people, and they like the Huus are obsessed now the war spirit is with us- Or are there men among us as little undeveloped as mere hoys whose sense of sympathy' with the defenceless and helpless has not yet risen to the top?—T am. etc. J. H. FORD. October 20, 1916.